You probably already know the good news: we’re getting a fourth season of Sherlock. And if you’ve finished the third season, that was all but settled in the final moments. The bad news, however, is the wait. Series co-creator Steven Moffat splits his time between Sherlock and another little show people might have heard of, Doctor Who. He has a lot of his plate. In a recent interview he said he won’t sacrifice any quality and that means we probably won’t see Sherlock return for a few years.

The second and third seasons of Sherlock premiered two years apart to the date: January 1, 2012 and January 1, 2014 in the UK. So how long will we have to wait for the next episodes? IGN asked Moffatt himself:

I have no idea. Sue [Vertue, producer] is working on the schedules right now. I just started with [Peter] Capaldi on the new series of Doctor Who. You know, we’ll do what we can, but with no sacrifice in quality — that’s the thing. If people have to wait two years, they’ll have to wait two years. When’s the next James Bond film? You know, it’s not that kind of show that turns up all the time. It’s just not. But the good news is, that probably means it will turn up sporadically for a very, very long while.

That’s obviously disappointing from a story standpoint as the third season wrapped up on a pretty fantastic cliffhanger. But, the suggestion the show will keep going beyond that is encouraging at least. What do you think?